"Be careful!" Peter, who was closest to Debra, yanked her away with a sudden tug. At the same moment, Ethan reacted instinctively, diving sideways in the opposite direction.
Boom!
A heavy lab table came crashing through the lounge door with brutal force, splintering wood and tearing the hinges clean off. It skidded across the floor of the experimental area, throwing up a cloud of dust and scattering broken equipment.
Startled, all three turned toward the gaping hole where the door had been—and saw it.
A monstrous figure crouched by the shattered window frame inside the lounge, partially obscured by shadows. Its hulking, reptilian form was unmistakable—green scaly skin, thick tail coiled beneath it, and long claws gripping the ledge. Draped over its shoulder was a massive object wrapped in a grimy canvas sheet. Whatever it was, it was large—and unmoving.
The figure's head turned slowly. Glowing scarlet eyes locked onto them.
Then, without a sound, it leapt backward through the shattered window and disappeared down the side of the building.
"The Lizard!" Peter muttered, eyes wide.
"He's at the school?!" Ethan's thoughts raced. Neither of them had expected the ominous sensation they'd felt earlier to be pointing toward Dr. Curt Connors himself—transformed into the Lizard.
Both had believed the Lizard was still operating in the sewers beneath Manhattan, possibly near the abandoned subway tunnels. His sudden appearance in the university lab was shocking—and deeply troubling.
Ethan ran to the broken window and scanned the ground below. But the courtyard was empty, silent. No movement, no tail trails, no sign of forced exit—he had vanished like a shadow in the night.
"I don't see anything… How did something that big disappear so fast?" he muttered, frustrated.
"Oh my God… What was that thing?!" Debra gasped, clutching Peter's arm. Her face was pale, and her voice shook. "His eyes—they looked like a demon's!"
Peter knelt beside her, trying to calm her. "It's okay. He's gone now. You're safe."
Ethan turned back from the window and asked, "Did either of you get a good look at what he was carrying?"
Peter shook his head slowly. "It was wrapped too tightly. Could've been equipment, maybe some heavy machinery or containment gear, but…"
Debra suddenly shouted, her face twisting in horror. "Wait—could that have been Dr. Connors?!"
Silence fell between them. The idea hadn't occurred to them at first, but it hit now with full force.
"That thing… did it take him?"
"It didn't quite look like a person in shape," Ethan said cautiously. "But whatever it was, it definitely wasn't something random. He came here for something."
"Or someone," Peter said grimly.
Debra covered her mouth, her mind clearly connecting the dots. "So that's why Dr. Connors wasn't here… He was abducted."
Peter rubbed his chin, the tension in his face deepening. "I remember his home address. I'll go check and see if anything happened there. If he's not at the lab, he may have been taken from his apartment before this."
He looked up at Ethan and added, "Leon, stay here with Debra. The police are probably going to arrive soon after all the noise."
Ethan nodded silently, understanding the real message in Peter's words. Peter needed to go alone—as Spider-Man. But Ethan wasn't about to sit idle either.
Once Peter was gone, Ethan planned to find his own excuse to slip away. He would follow Peter from a distance and investigate further with Venom's help.
Peter exited the laboratory building and ducked into a nearby alley. Making sure the coast was clear, he quickly changed into his Spider-Man suit, tucking his street clothes into his backpack and securing it with webbing behind a dumpster.
Moments later, he was soaring through the city on web-lines, his thoughts racing.
He kept replaying the memories of his time working in Dr. Connors' lab—specifically the project that led to this transformation.
"It's incredible, Peter. Did you see that?" Connors' voice had been almost giddy with excitement. "I introduced just a sliver of reptilian DNA—combined with recombinant healing genes—and the mouse regenerated a severed limb in minutes!"
Peter had been equally stunned, watching the tiny white mouse in the glass cage scurry about with four full limbs—minutes after having lost one. "I still can't believe it. This is… groundbreaking."
Connors had always believed in the potential of genetic engineering to help humanity—especially those like himself, missing limbs. But Peter knew too well the dangers of tampering with unstable hybrid DNA. He had warned Connors about side effects.
Now, it was clear those warnings hadn't been enough.
The Lizard was back—and this time, it had a purpose. And Peter had a terrible feeling they were running out of time to stop him.
Dr. Connors carefully held the lab mouse in his palm, observing it with scientific wonder. The creature wriggled slightly, its freshly regenerated limb moving as if it had never been severed. He turned toward Peter and handed it over with care.
"This is just the beginning," Connors said, his voice tinged with excitement and hope. "Imagine, Peter—what if we could apply this to the human body? People who've lost limbs… could walk again. Illnesses we can't cure today—reversed completely."
As he spoke, Connors reached across with his remaining left hand and touched the empty right sleeve tucked into his lab coat. It wasn't just theory—it was personal. This was his dream.
After swinging across another street, Peter landed momentarily on a rooftop and paused to think. He clenched his fists, recalling the experiment and Connors' passion.
"Someone must have stolen the research… used it to create that creature," Peter thought grimly. "Something that powerful—it could only be the result of Connors' work."
He knew what had to be done.
"I have to stop this before it gets worse."
A few rooftops behind, Ethan—clad in black—was watching Peter move swiftly across the city skyline.
Seeing that Peter had widened the gap, Ethan tensed his legs and launched himself high into the air, vaulting from one building to the next. With Venom enhancing his strength and agility, his jumping power was nothing short of monstrous.
"That webhead's speeding up again," Venom growled in his head. "Let's not fall behind."
"I know," Ethan muttered. "We'll catch up."
They continued leaping across the city's rooftops, shadowing Spider-Man until they arrived at a quiet suburban home. Warm yellow lights glowed from inside, and shadows moved across the curtains. The small yard had picture frames tied to trees, depicting a smiling family of three—Dr. Connors, a woman, and a young boy.
While Ethan scanned the property from above, Peter had already entered the house through the front door. As soon as he stepped inside—
CRASH!
A hulking green figure burst through the living room window, leaping outward with terrifying speed. Draped over his shoulder was a woman, her muffled scream barely audible. On the floor, a small boy sat crying, reaching toward the creature.
"Mom! Dad, stop!" the child sobbed, frozen in place.
"Damn it!" Peter muttered, shooting a line of webbing to snag the Lizard before he could escape. But the mutated figure anticipated the attack. He snatched up a heavy potted plant from the porch and hurled it mid-air—shattering the web line before it could reach him.
Just as the Lizard turned to leap away again, a figure dropped like a missile from the sky.
WHAM!
Ethan crashed into him with both feet, sending the monstrous figure sprawling across the yard. The woman was flung loose but caught instantly by Ethan mid-air. He twisted, landed on one knee, and gently lowered her to the ground.
"Ma'am, are you alright?" he asked urgently.
She looked up at him, her brown hair disheveled and her face pale. This was Margaret Connors, the doctor's wife. She looked shaken, but unharmed.
Before anyone could respond, the Lizard rose from the dirt, claws digging into the earth as he hissed. Then, from his grotesque, mutated mouth, he rasped a name:
"…Margaret…"
The word came out broken but recognizable. The voice was guttural, yet deeply human.
Mrs. Connors's expression crumpled. She covered her face in anguish, shaking her head.
"Please… don't hurt him," she sobbed. "That's Kurt—my husband! He didn't mean to hurt me!"
Ethan froze, stunned.
"What did you just say? Kurt? Kurt Connors?! That is the Lizard?"
He looked back at the monstrous figure, slowly connecting the dots. Connors had experimented on reptiles. He had tested regenerative sequences… And now he was the result.
"He must've tested the formula on himself," Ethan realized. "That's why he vanished from the lab. He wasn't abducted. He transformed."
Peter leapt down from the broken window, the child clinging to his chest. His expression was as shocked as Ethan's.
"I heard it too," Peter said. "And the kid… he just told me. That's his dad."
The Lizard stood still, breathing heavily. Venom, inside Ethan, snarled with tension, ready to strike. But the Lizard's glowing red eyes softened slightly at the sight of Margaret and the boy.
Then, without warning, the Lizard turned and bolted into the dark.
He didn't fight. He didn't try to reclaim Margaret.
He just… left.
Ethan didn't move to pursue. Neither did Peter. They both watched in stunned silence as the mutated Dr. Connors vanished into the shadows of the city once more.
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